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January Issue 2004
Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, SC, Offers Touring Nature Conservancy Exhibit
The Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, SC, is presenting the exhibition, Selections from In Response to Place: Photographs from The Nature Conservancy's Last Great Places. Organized by The Nature Conservancy and curated by famed New York Times art critic Andy Grundberg, In Response to Place is the cornerstone exhibition of the Gibbes Museum of Art's winter 2004 exhibition schedule highlighting nature and landscape. The exhibition opens in the Museum's Garden, Smith and Balcony Galleries on Jan. 16 and will continue through Apr. 24, 2004.
The "Last Great Places" are The Nature Conservancy's flagship conservation sites, which are known to include over 200 biologically rich landscapes throughout the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean, Canada, Asia and the Pacific. In celebration of it 50th anniversary, the Conservancy asked a dozen distinguished contemporary photographers to respond to a site with which he or she felt a special affinity. The results of this landmark project was the exhibition In Response to Place.
Each photograph on view in In Response to Place was carefully selected by exhibition curator Andy Grundberg to reflect a variety of approaches to the medium of photography. The exhibition features artists who have achieved accolades for their portraiture such as Annie Liebowitz and William Wegman; artists famous for their landscape photographs such as Terry Evans and Richard Misrach; and artists best knowm for their work on the cutting edge of the art world such as Sally Mann and Lee Friedlander.
"By asking contemporary artists to visit and respond to what The Nature Conservancy calls the "Last Great Places" I wanted to investigate new ways of thinking about how the camera could depict humans' relationships to the land, to beauty and to nature in general," states Grundberg.
The twelve artists chose sites ranging in character from the red rock plateaus of Utah and the forest of New York to the coral reefs of Indonesia. While some artists focused on plant and animal life, other focused on the people who live in and around these areas. Some artists made one trip to their selected site, while others chose to revisit the site over several seasons. Although the imagery included in In Response to Place is varied, the unified theme seen throughout the exhibition is that of the artists, regardless of method, produced images that express passionate feelings about the natural world.
Photographers William Christenberry and Lee Friedlander, for example, focus on landscape. At Alabama's Bibb County Glades and Cahaba River, Christenberry found himself photographing the first pure landscapes of his career. Friedlander's work along the San Pedro River in Arizona explores the diversity of plants growing in the vicinity of the river. Christenberry and Friendlander's photographic investigations unveil the hidden beauty of these biologically important places while demonstrating the importance of ecological preservation.
Artists Mary Ellen Mark and Fazal Sheikh took a different approach to The Nature Conservancy project by concentrating on portraiture within their selected sites. Mark's images are from two isolated coastal settlements on opposite ends of the United States, and Sheikh's portraits of the faces and hands of landless people living in and near a national park in Brazil are reminders of the human face of conservation. The use of this focus suggests that the beauty of nature and the reality of human presence are not necessarily in opposition, thereby demonstrating the Conservancy's collaborative and participatory approach to conservation.
Participating artists include: William Christenberry, Lynn Davis, Terry Evans, Lee Friedlander, Karen Halverson, Annie Leibovitz, Sally mann, Mary Ellen Mark, Richard Misrach, Hope Sandrow, Fazal Sheikh, and William Wegman.
Artists bios:
William Christenberry
For more than thirty years, William Christenberry has been making
pictures in and around Hale County, AL, documenting rural southern
landscapes and the worn, remote margins of small-town life. His
photographs are included in the permanent collections of the Museum
of Modern Art, New York; the Phillips Collection; the Smithsonian's
American Art Museum; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; the
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; and the Library of Congress.
He is represented by Hemphill Fine Arts in Washington, DC; the
Morgan Gallery in Kansas City, MO; and the Pace-MacGill Gallery
in New York City.
Lynn Davis
Renowned landscape photographer Lynn Davis began her career as
an apprentice to Berenice Abbott in the summer of 1974. Her work
focuses on cultural and natural monuments around the world. Her
photographs are included in the permanent collections of the Museum
of Modern Art, New York; the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles;
and the Hallmark Collection. She is represented by the Edwynn
Houk Gallery in New York City.
Terry Evans
Noted for her haunting and hopeful images of the American prairie,
Terry Evans captures the farmlands, meadows, wetlands, and forests
that symbolize the heartland. Her work has been exhibited in museums
nationwide and is in the permanent collections of the Art Institute
of Chicago; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art. She is represented by the Yancey Richardson
Gallery in New York City and the Carol Ehlers Gallery in Chicago.
Lee Friedlander
A son of Washington's Olympic Mountains, Lee Friedlander has been
a devotee of wild places all his life. He is known for breaking
with convention as well as artfully documenting the buried details
and symbols of a visually satiated society. His photographs are
included in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the Victoria
and Albert Museum, London. He is represented by the Fraenkel Gallery
in San Francisco and Janet Borden, Inc. in New York City.
Karen Halverson
Landscape photographer Karen Halverson has spent a great part
of her career documenting the anomalies, ironies, and wonders
of the American West, from the Colorado River to Southern California
to the "New West" of subdivision and sprawl. Her work
is in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art;
the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; and the Smithsonian's
American Art Museum. She is represented by the Paul Kopeikin Gallery
in Los Angeles, Alan Kloz/Photocollect in New York City, the Yancey
Richardson Gallery in New York City, and Sandra Berler Gallery
in Washington, DC.
Annie Leibovitz
Known around the world for her portraits of political and cultural
icons, Annie Leibovitz in recent years has focused on capturing
more than just famous faces. Her work portraying everyday women,
for example, has ranged from a Las Vegas showgirl to an elderly
carnival performer. Her images are included in the collections
of the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC, and she is represented
by the Edwynn Houk Gallery in New York City.
Sally Mann
Sally Mann's highly acclaimed "Immediate Family" series
was followed by a series of landscapes of her native South. Her
work is in the permanent collections at the Whitney Museum of
American Art; the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; and the Corcoran
Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. She is represented by the Edwynn
Houk Gallery in New York City.
Mary Ellen Mark
Noted for her revealing and sympathetic portraits, Mary Ellen
Mark has created images of diverse cultures that have become landmarks
in documentary photography. Her work is in the permanent collections
of the George Arents, Jr. Collection at the New York Public Library;
the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA; the Museum of Contemporary
Photography, Chicago; the Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego;
the Cleveland Museum of Art; and the George Eastman House, Rochester.
She is represented by the Howard Greenberg Gallery in New York
City.
Richard Misrach
Richard Misrach has spent most of his career photographing the
American desert, revealing it in images that have described as
haunting, potent, and alarming. His photographs are in the permanent
collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art; and the Musee d' Art Moderne, Paris. He
is represented by the Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco.
Hope Sandrow
Known both for her work with homeless women and her pictures of
water, Hope Sandrow interprets space, time, and motion in her
photography and installations, which often includes raw materials
from the places she photographs. her work is in the collections
of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Houston Museum of Fine
Arts; and the Minnesota Museum of American Art.
Fazal Sheikh
Influenced by trips to his family's home in Africa, Fazal Sheikh's
work has documented refugee communities in pictures that reveal
the rich cultural and historical ties in some of the world's most
remote places. His photographs are in the permanent collections
of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the George Eastman
House, Rochester; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
He is represented by the Pace-MacGill Gallery in New York City.
William Wegman
William Wegman's four weimaraner dogs appearning in his images
- Battian, Chippy, Chundo, and Crooky - are the latest generation
to follow in the footsteps of Man Ray and Fay Ray, the original
pair who Wegman made famous. In addition to photography, Wegman
has worked in three other mediums: drawing, painting, and video.
His images are included in the permanent collections of the Whitney
Museum of American Art; the Museum of Modern Art; New York; and
the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. He is represented by the Pace-MacGill
Gallery in New York City.
Selections from In Response to Place: Photographs from The Nature Conservancy's Last Great Places is made possible by presenting sponsor, Merrill Lynch, and official sponsors, Cadillac, the Georgia-Pacific Corporation, MBNA America, Millstone Coffee and 3M.
The mission of The Nature Conservancy is to preserve the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. The nature Conservancy counts at least 1 million members worldwide. The Conservancy and its members have protected more than 116 million acres on Earth, including more than 202,000 acres in South Carolina and 560,000 in North Carolina. For more information on The Nature Conservancy, visit (www.nature.org) or call their SC office at 803/254-9049 and in NC, 919/403-8558.
The Gibbes is also offering the exhibition, In Love with the Lowcountry: Photographs by Tom Blagden, Jr. and Michael Johnson, on view in the Charleston Renaissance Gallery through June 20, 2004.
For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Museum at 843/722-2706 or on the web at (www.gibbesmuseum.org).
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